This invention relates to accessories and processes for taxidermy and, more particularly, to small mammal polyurethane forms used in taxidermy. Briefly, a form is the core over which an animal skin is stretched and/or mounted when a taxidermist creates a work of taxidermy art, ie., a mounted animal skin. As more particularly described below, during the taxidermy process the skin is carefully prepared to be something like a sock, and after that is slid over an appropriately-sized and -shaped form as comparably as a sock slides onto a foot.
Taxidermists have been using polyurethane forms in the process of mounting small mammals for decades. The prior art forms have changed very little during this time.
Originally, the taxidermist made his form from excelsior until polyurethane came along. Forms produced by casting polyurethane were a great improvement over forms produced by hand wrapping excelsior. Later, the Van Dyke Company of Woonsocket, S. Dak., made a few forms with separate legs that did not lock into the form. As more particularly described below, the separate legs or limbs got fastened to the limbless body by bolts. These were very difficult to use. All of these models present many disadvantages to the taxidermists in part as follows.
By way of background, polyurethane forms are typically cast around reinforcing support wires in molds made of fiberglass. Generally the hardened polyurethane form is difficult to get out of the mold without breaking the legs of the form because of the polyurethane foam being inherently weak and brittle. To accommodate this most form manufacturers produce a one-piece whole animal form with an oversized leg to reduce breakage. The oversized leg makes it difficult for the end-user of the form, the taxidermist, to get the skin over the form unless the taxidermist rasps down the size of the leg.
The depth of the area between the legs on a one-piece whole animal form is typically too thick because the mold cannot be made correctly in this area. This can be reckoned as an unnatural web in the crotch of the rear limbs or the armpit areas of the forelimbs. Because of this, the skin of the mammal will not fit the form without alterations. For example, to get a proper fit in the armpit area, the taxidermist must cut slots in the form for the skin to slide up into this area. Many times the leg support wires are in this area which makes it very difficult to cut these slots.
Many of the one-piece whole animal forms are in poses that require the taxidermist to cut apart before the skin will fit on the form. After the skin is stretched on the cut-apart pieces of the form, the cut-apart pieces must be glued back together, which is very difficult.
Most taxidermist use an incision commonly known as a dorsal incision in the skinning of mammals. This incision is made along the back of the animal starting at the base of the tail and going to the base of the skull. This incision is required for most mounts which results in a 24xe2x80x3-30xe2x80x3(60 to 75 cm) incision that requires a lot of sewing time and makes it hard to conceal the seam.
Shipping a one-piece whole mammal form is expensive because of the space one form takes up because of the legs. Even though the form may only weigh 4 pounds, because of its bulk, it must be shipped as an oversized package which common carriers charge as a 30 pound package. Damage often occurs to the form when shipping because the legs are hard to pack around being attached to the form and sticking out.
To turn attention now to the prior art form assemblies available as separate limbs and limbless bodies, while these forms do provide separate legs, the legs do not lock into the legless body but instead are provided with a bolt to attach the leg. It is very difficult to attach the legs in this manner because the taxidermist has to work under the skin to tighten the bolt. Also, forms with separate legs are very unstable with the bolt system because the bolt will cut into the form as the taxidermist tightens the bolt. A taxidermist can never get the leg tight all the way. Additionally, the bolt head will be seen protruding from the form and thus be seen sticking out under the skin of the mammal. Moreover, without a locking system, these prior art type assembly forms make the taxidermist guess the proper location of each leg.
Finally, the prior art bolting system restricts the freedom of a form manufacturer to obtain many life-like action poses with the form. That is, the bolting system works best when bolt inserts through aligned holes that make a passage extending at right angles to the axis of the spine. As a consequence, for example in the forelimbs, the shoulder blades are constrained to be disposed more or less flanking the spine opposite each other, eg., on a right-angle transverse axis. However, in real life and with the cat family in particular, some mammals are very supple. They are capable of slinking in ways in which a leading shoulder blade is far offset in front of and dipped or raised at a very different elevation from the trailing shoulder blade. Given the foregoing, the prior art bolting system is deficient in allowing a form manufacturer to produce a wide variety of desirable poses that better show an animal off in its most contorted and fantastic position.
In order to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art, it is an object of the invention to provide a taxidermy form assembly which has advantageously-configured interlocking attachable/detachable legs.
It is an alternate object of the invention to provide a form that has the correct size leg which does not require any rasping to make the leg fit the skin.
It is another object of the invention to provide a form that is accurate between the legs.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a form that already has the armpit and/or crotch slots molded into the form.
It is an alternative object of the invention to provide a form with more life-like action poses than attainable by the one-piece whole animal prior art forms, or at least that does not have to be cut apart to get the skin on the form.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a form which allows the taxidermist to use either a short 8xe2x80x3 (20 cm) dorsal incision or 8xe2x80x3 belly incision.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a form that can be shipped for less cost.
It is yet an additional object of the invention to provide a form that will incur fewer damages in shipping.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a form with attachable/detachable legs that lock into the main body for producing a stable whole-figure form.
It is moreover another object of the invention to provide a form with attachable/detachable legs that lock into the main body without the use of bolts.
It is moreover a further object of the invention to provide a form with detachable legs that have a positive and accurate seat between the leg(s) and main body.
Further objects and advantages are provided in accordance with the invention by a form which is anatomically correct in and around the leg area, which provides a skin slot for the armpit and/or crotch skin to slide into, which allows the manufacturing of a more accurate and life-like pose, with the ability to shorten the incision by one-third (⅓) the normal length, which will allow the taxidermist more freedom in the location of the incision, which will save money and prevent damages in shipping, which simply locks into the main body without any bolts, which is stable, and which keys in perfectly to the main body.
Additional features and objects will be apparent in connection with the following disclosure of preferred embodiments and examples.